The SOS Report. The Full Story

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 3:
The Longest Day​

Its trail day. After one hell of a last few days we are all very anxious to hit some dirt and rocks. The trail on the agenda:

Morrison Jeep Trail.

I had done this last year with Ben and Mike but they both had skipped out on the switch backs and had decided they wanted to try them out. Last year only 3 of us where brave enough to try them and we did it very easy with little to no drama. Naturally I figured it would be the same ordeal again just with 5 trucks. Could not have been more wrong. But before we dive head first into this, there are a few things that needed explained to make the whole impact of this day truly understandable.

1) We all have family and friends that go. “Why the hell do you do this?” and roll their eyes at you You often try and explain to them the sheer fun of it and the gloriousness of the beauty around you. With great effort on rare occasions you get one of these people to finally come out with you and actually try it, even if its like pulling teeth from them. There are two people on this trip that fit this bill. My Mother and my Sister.

Now don't get my wrong, my Mom is a HUGE supporter of these trips for me. For the most part she gets why I do it and often helps host the meets at her own home. I love her for that. But ever since my Dad has gotten into it, we have not been able to get her to come along.

Until now! Granted she had a set plan. She was going to ride in with us to the base of the switchbacks and then hike the switchbacks with my brother as walking up them would be much faster and she could not bear to ride in a truck for that part. They would continue to hike until we caught up with them where they would jump in and ride out the rest of the trail. At the end of which my moms Sisters would pick her up and take her back to town as she had other buissness to attend to and could not stay the night.

The second was my Sister. She hadn't even set foot in Wyoming in over a year so she was up for some camping but didn't understand the whole wheeling part but was with us for the night.

2) Jess, my long time wheeling partner joined me in my truck for this part of the trip as well. She is an experienced outdoors women with backpacking and wheeling under her belt.

3) My brother is with us, a Search and Rescue guy, HUGE outdoors man. Could survive with nothing more then a tooth pick out in the wilderness I am pretty sure.

4) My Dad is coming with us...in the FRV..a LONG BED 4 DOOR TACOMA...yea..


So in a nut shell. My mom's first experience doing the offroad thing, plans on hiking the super tight switchbacks with my super outdoorsy brother while we drive up them with my dads long *** truck in the group up the incredibly tight and narrow switchbacks of Morrison where we have to meet my Aunts to take my mom back that night around 4 pm.

Don't forget that.

Anyways as per usual, we leave for the trail head about an hour late. Because leaving on time is for losers. After a short 30 minute drive through the Wyoming desert, we approach the mouth of the canyon.

The great Clarks Fork Canyon.

IMG_5300 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

We waste no time pulling into the canyon and airing down for the rough road ahead.

IMG_5301 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

And start off

IMG_7773 by digirat99, on Flickr

The lower section is just rough road. Nothing crazy. But being in the bottom of the canyon is unreal cool.

SOSMeet-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_7782 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_5315 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Then our first issue shows it face.

My Dad starts saying there is an odd noise coming from the front passenger wheel so we pull off and inspect it. Seeing nothing wrong we decided to swap on his spare tire just to see if the wheel is messed up.

IMG_5324 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

My mother takes this time to voice she doesn't like riding in the FRV. Saying “Every bang and groan or creek I hear I just think, there goes another 5000 miles off this truck”. Timmy offered her a seat in his rig and she took it graciously. Saying “Im okay with hearing it in yours, cause its not my truck thats breaking”. Thanks Mom...haha

While Dad and I swapped a tire everyone else too the moment to go and hang out by the river. Our Labs were big fans of this choice!

IMG_5336 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_7803 by digirat99, on Flickr

Then we hit the road again.

IMG_7808 by digirat99, on Flickr

My sister and Ben are enjoying the morning
SOSMeet-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It wasn't before too long we came around the last bend and up to the switchbacks. There were some jeeps parked at the base, one of which was in our way and we had to go as them to move it. But other then that, no one appeared to be on the switchbacks. My Dad was still complaining about a clicking noise and we had to decide if it was same for him to continue.

It then dawned on us that it was the internal bump stops of the fancy ORI shocks. So he was good to go.

Before we left my Mother and Brother geared up to hike up the switchbacks. And by gear up I mean take only about 2 liters of water and a few granola bars and no jackets. Jess, who had no idea there were going to do this, decided at the last minute she would tag a long. I of course didn't see an issue with this and wished them a happy time hiking!

We gave them a bit of a head start before starting up the switchbacks. Little did we know, **** was going to hit the fan at a seemingly constant rate from here on.

IMG_5345 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

I took the lead as I had driven it before and was designated spotter. Ben followed me followed by FRV, Timmy and Mike tail gunned so that we had a winch in front middle and rear.

The first few corners where no big deal, even the long FRV didn't have issues.

SOSMeet-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

But before long we were in the thick of it. I was in the middle of navigating a back to back switchback when Timmy came over the radio..

Timmy- “You, you okay there Mike?”

Mike- “No”

When Mike says he isn't okay. That is BAD. I stopped the truck immediately and jumped out of the truck to the edge of the cliff to look down on him.

Holy...****..

Both his driver side front and rear passenger tires where OFF the edge of the cliff.

IMG_5356 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

I sprinted down the mountain to him as did everyone else. Amazingly he was quite calm about it and was just sitting in the truck waiting. Not an ounce of panic in him. That was a good thing. In retrospect Mike said he just had no idea how bad it really was from inside the truck.

Turns out, there had been a rock on the passenger side of the path. Not much bigger then a cantelope that he had decided he didn't want to drive over and swung just a touch wide. This made the rear tire slide off and he had tried to self recover only to find it slid his front one off too.

I was a bit mad at Mike for such a childish mistake honestly at the time. But really, even the most experienced people make mistakes, **** happens. We put this aside very quickly as my Dad and I focused on getting Mike out and his truck alive.

Which posed a problem.

We had no trees anywhere to winch off of. Timmy's truck was in front of Mikes but much lighter. Not only that but pulling just forward wasn't going to work. We need to pull side ways but again. No trees.

We attached Mikes winch line to Timmy's truck just as a safety precaution and then attached the FRV to Timmy's rig.

IMG_5357 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Then we stood and thought.

IMG_5352 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

In an instant a marvelous idea came to me. After going through all of our tools this morning to fix my Dads truck I remembered we had a snatch block. Once again I sprinted back up the mountain to Frankenstein to get it.

When I came back down I explained to everyone what we were going to do.

I had the idea of snatching off of Timmy's truck and attaching the end of the line to the side of Mike's truck. This would give us pulling power forward and on the side like we needed to keep the rear for pivoting off the edge fully.

At this point we had Mike get out of the truck through the passenger door and setup the winch line.

IMG_5360 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Then more problems. Mike's winch solenoid had seen the wrath of the weather too much and wouldn't work. 1 in every 50 attempts to turn it on seemed to work. And when we would try and inch it forward the front tires didn't want to stay turned naturally.

My Dad's patience had run thin with the winch. He turned to me and said,

“Alright, when this thing turns on, we are going. The whole way. No stopping.”

No prob Dad.

We readied ourselves for the random chance of the winch working. I was by the front wheel to try and muscle it over to stay turned and my Dad by the door to be read to help balance the truck if it got too tippy.

The winch fired.

Instantly we knew the wheels weren't turned enough and I couldn't hold them alone. My Dad threw himself into the cab of the truck through the passenger window and grabbed the steering wheel to help muscle the wheels over all while pushing the winch button.

Some how it worked.

The Red Head, was alive. Mike was alive. All was well.

But the mood on the trail had changed drastically. The reality of how easy it is to screw up on this trail and plummet to your demise really sank in. Anxiety levels went through the roof. Everyone was a bit shaken up. My Dad and Timmy particularly grew more nervous about the turns and spotting was requested for each corner.

We could not turn around at this point. There was no room to do so and we had people at the top of the mountain waiting and relying on us to come get them.

Speaking of our hikers, lets do an update on them. They hauled ***. In the middle of Mike's cliff hanger experience. They had made it to the top of the switchbacks and had waved down at us, totally oblivious to the event that had just happened. They were trudging on with great confidence.

But we had just barely started. Of the 27 switchbacks, we had only done 4. We knew we had to pick it up in order to catch up with the walkers.

IMG_7836 by digirat99, on Flickr

The going was slow, and did not get faster. Only slower.

IMG_5419 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

The FRV's long wheel base was beginning to rear it's nasty head. Some of the corners would take 15 minutes to navigate.

SOSMeet-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 3 Continued​

This corner seemed to be our doom.

IMG_5389 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

It was just so much steeper and tight we could not get him around it. It took us 30 minutes to get the FRV around it and we even tried winching.

IMG_5387 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Every corner the FRV got around was a victory

SOSMeet-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The rocks were just so much more brutal this year. Each corner was completely different from last year. Water erosion and high use had really taken its tole. The trail wasn't even recognizable to me.

Then my Dad realize maybe he could back up the real tight corners.

IMG_5412 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

This tactic worked awesome for a lot of the corners. But some did not have the room for the pull out for it.

Like this one.

It had a rather large rock right at the apex of the corner. This is what sliders are for. Every single one of us used our sliders on this rock to pivot around it. Save for me cause I had 35s and my sliders went up on top of it...which was a pain. But it was off camber a bit and my dad did not have kick out sliders.

IMG_5395 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

As I spotted him around it I stopped him and told him, I don't think you are going to get around this without some paint coming off..

Well..

IMG_5396 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

As soon as my Dad saw that he pulled his head back into the cab and said..**** IT! And let the wrath of his supercharged 4.0L Tacoma belt out the sound track of horsepower and peeled out around the corner the tenor note of his dual exhaust echoing off the canyon walls :laugh:

We we at the 0 ****s were given stage.

It seemed we were finally getting a good rhythm going and actually making progress when two more bad things happened.

The first was bad weather seemed to be blowing in, and we were only half way up. Water on granite is NEVER good. So the pressure was really on now.

But the worse was when we heard a lady yelling...

“Whoa whoa whoa! You guys can't come up! We have ATVs coming down!”

Soon as I hear this, I'm thinking, “You have got to be ************* kidding me.”

She trots down to the next corner as I pull up and has a very worried look on her face. She goes on to explain that one ATV and two UTVs are right behind her. She just can't stand to ride in them going down this and had opted to hike it.

My first response was, well. Sorry, we literally can not turn around. There are 5 trucks on this trail.

She barely believes that until they all pull up behind me.

My next response to her was, “Didn't you see 3 people hiking and didn't they tell you we were coming up?”

She said yes they had met the 3 people and had told us but when the bad weather started blowing in they had panicked and set off down the switchbacks.

:facepalm:

Great.

By some miracle we had a stroke of luck and the corner I was parked at had a ton of room on it. Probably the most of any corner. I cooly explained that I was pretty sure there was room for the vehicles to park in the corner while we passed them.

Turns out it worked our great. Not only that but while we had our audience watch in disbelief that trucks could make it up this road, the sun came back out and no rain fell. Disaster averted!

IMG_5379 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

But by now, it was late. Like really late. We were about 3 hours behind schedule at this point. We trudged on, not even stopping for food knowing that 3 people up on the mountain were depending on us showing up at some point. We ran up and down the mountain side helping each other out.

IMG_5377 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

At long last we made our way around the last switchback and up on top of the cliffs edge.

Last corner!
IMG_5408 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

It had been a long tiring grueling 6 hours up the switchbacks. And now we faced a real big issue.

It was now 4pm. The time that we were supposed to be done with the trail and dropping off my Mother so she could head home.

We had no form of communication with the 3 hikers, and it was 18 miles to the end of the trail. They had been walking all day and there was no way they were going to make without us.

The Race was on to find our hikers.

Ben and I took the lead and went out front
IMG_5431 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

We hammered down to find our family and friends but couldn't help but stop and enjoy the amazing sunlight and glorious view. Once you get all the way on top. Its breathtaking.

SOSMeet-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_5442 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
SOSMeet-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

But the views could not help with the fact that even though we were covering miles now in minutes. There was absolutely no sign of our three companions. The adrenaline that had been flowing all day, started to flow stronger and the stress was mounting.

Then we got another kick in the balls.

Ben had to be about half a mile in front of me and I was a good ¾ of a mile in front of my dad at this point. When I got a lovely message from Ben over the CB.

“Uh...guys...there is a tree across the road.”

Perfect. A road block.

Lucky for us all I had remembered to grab the chain saw. But. No gas of course :facepalm: We instead took some mobil 1 motor oil, poured some in the chainsaws tank, added some gas. And let her rip.

IMG_5440 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_7866 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_7870 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_7871 by digirat99, on Flickr

This was a very recent tree that had fallen over. There was no signs of people going around it like the atvs that passed us on the switchbacks and fresh sticks had been broken off. We were happy to help clear the trail. Right up until not even 200 yards later, another tree was across the road. A huge one.


Which is a good place to update you on our hikers. Grant, Mom and Jess had been walking. And walking. And...walking. For hours. With absolutely no sign of us. There were out of food and almost out of water. It was getting late and they had no way to setup camp or jackets to help fight of the ever approaching cold mountain night. They had hiked there way all the way to the big tree across the trail. Not the one we cut up. But the real big one.

When my Mom saw this she though. Oh my god the guys are screwed. How the hell do we get out of here now? Amazingly, two old men drove up on the 4 wheelers and stopped to chat. My mom asked them how far it was to the end of the trail.

“Oh lets see, I'd say about 6-8”

My mom's heart sunk. She knew she didn't have 6 miles left in her. Only about 3. Then the old man corrected himself,

“Actually, its 6 back to where we camped and about 3 from there to the trail head, so id actually say about 9-11”

She thanked them and they puttered off south towards the switchbacks. Now it was panic time. The 3 hikes were not prepared for this and didn't know what to do. They couldn't make it to the end where my Aunts where waiting to pick up Mom and if they walked back to us they figured we couldn't get around the tree. But a small yet very large act of kindness happened.

The old men came back.

“You guys will never make it” They said, “You want a ride?”

At this point, it was the only logical thing to do. So my Mom and Jess sat behind the old guys on the seats and my Brother took up the rear rack of one and held on for dear life and they set off for the trail head.

Back to the us guys in the trucks..

We have no idea about the nice guys on the 4wheelers or anything. We just know that now there is a second big *** tree in our way and either our hikers are super humans or something very very bad has happened to them.

There is a path already started that goes around this tree but it is very tight and the FRV barely makes it through. As much as we would have liked to have cut it up. Our chainsaw would have struggled and it would have taken an hour or more.

We hit the road hard again.

SOSMeet-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then we came to the very rocky section and as Ben is leaving the rough down hill section a jeep is at the base and he decides to ask him if he has seen our friends.

Sadly, the driver is drunk. Not something anyone likes to see. He also has no recollection of seeing anyone hiking by him. Not that we can take his word for anything as he is rather hammered, but it doesn't make us feel better about not knowing where our friends are. I just hope he didn't cause any major damage to himself. Don't drink and drive people...

By now it is getting quiet late and we are finally near the end of the trail.

Golden Skys and Land by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

But we have no freaking clue on what has happened to our hikers. Ben is the first one on the scene to the trail head and is report is not a good one.

“Guys, no one is here. Not even a car.”

My Dad is in disbelief. “Where could they have gone then??”

I show up next and start looking for clues thinking that maybe Grant has left us a sign on if they left or something. Anything.

IMG_5455 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Nothing.

Everyone else begins showing up and we start thinking of a plan of action. I send Ben down the highway to hopefully see if they are at the other road where we are supposed to be camping off of. Dad and I start coming up with a plan to get in range of a local repeater to call Search and Rescue. We just can't believe that a group of such experienced out doors people could have gotten lost. Or that Grant would not have let us know somehow where they went.

Then Ben calls over the CB,

“I found them! They are headed your way!”

Never have I been more happy in my life to see a minivan drive down a highway and turn off onto the dirt road towards us. In tow are two atvs and Ben.

Turns out there had just barely beat us to the trail head and had gone to the lodge down the road to buy the ATVers more gas. Everyone was extremely relieved.

IMG_5456 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

After some hugs and a LOT of story telling and explaining, we finally head off to get to our camp site and said good bye to my Mom and Aunts. No matter how much Mike's bones were aching, we ended up doing this in the dark.

IMG_5460 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Our camp spot was Sawtooth lake and when we finally show up, we find there is a small group already there. They were happy to inform us of another spot just down the lake side and we thanked them and moved on over.

Once we all found a spot we liked and the fire was roaring. We only have one more issue. We where expecting two more friends to show up, Marc and Josh but they hadn't yet. But before long we picked them up on the CB and they made it to the party.

And I mean party. My Dad had brought steak for all and corn to try out his new portable wood pellet grill. No one went hungry that night. My Sister throughly was enjoying the whole arguing around the campfire part and seemed to enjoy butting heads with Timmy. They kept coming to the to conclusion that they had to google it when they got home. Which brought out the best quote I have ever heard my Dad say,

“Oh whatever, the best part about being out here is you can't google **** so all you do is sit around the fire and ************* argue about it and drink booze”

:laugh:

Well said Dad. Well said.

Needless to say we were all very wore out and all felt quiet relieve after this day. Which was by far one of the longest days of wheeling any of us had experienced on so many levels.

Frank and FRV Under Stars by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We learned a lot of things that day. People make mistakes, its never as easy as you think it'll be, there are still good hearted people out there and **** always buffs out . Luckily none of our mistakes merited any real drastic consequences to which we were all extremely grateful for. We all took it in as a great learning experience for all future adventures. Now, it was time to just relax and enjoy the stars and the fire. And more importantly. Each other company :cheers:

SOS extras.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

To be continued...

Chapter 4:
This mountain top! No, This one!​

 

[SDDiver5]

So Epic.

 

[Scarab]

Stunning photographs to go with a brilliant story.
Thanks for sharing it man.

 

[steve c]

:clapsmile

Awesome story and photos.

 

[bagelsjustbagels]

Just read all of this..... at work :O

Fantastic read, and photos. Start a website!

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 4:
This Mountain Top! No, This One!​

After a very well deserved nights sleep we all awoke and took in where we actually had ended up camping as we had no idea what it looked like till now. Not a disappointing place to be at all.

IMG_7883 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_7886 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_7887 by digirat99, on Flickr

But it was a bit of a sad morning. My Dad, Sister and Brother all had to head out early to get back home for other reasons. Jess and I left with them to the end of the trail as I had to air up my Dads rig.

It was a beautiful morning.

SOSMeet-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

At the end of the trail I loaned my CO2 tank to my Dad and he filled up his tires. When he was done. It was time for a goodbye. Not just any Good bye though as this would be the last time I would see him till I came back from school. 3 long months. And it would be the last time I would see my sister for another year. This trip had been so much fun to have them with me. And I really enjoyed all the stuff my Dad did with me and how much he went out of his way to help me. We had a blast and it was a great last adventure to cap off yet another very fun summer with my Dad. It was a tough good bye. But it had to happen.

SOSMeet-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Bye Dad. Love you tons. Thank you for everything. I'll see you soon.

SOSMeet-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

By Now Ben had had his fill of waiting and got everyone else riled up to get going. At least I would assume so because he always does this.

IMG_5476 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_7899 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_5495 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Mike is loving it all

14 by sconniehailer, on Flickr
16 by sconniehailer, on Flickr

At the end of the the trail everyone air's up their truck as we have about 25 or so miles of asphalt on very twisty road to get to our next destination.

Marc coming in hot. He loves smoothish dirt roads. BRAP!!
IMG_5509 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
DSC01691 by joshipps132, on Flickr

But I had a stop we had to do to first. My summer job had allowed me many cool opportunities to see some extra things and I knew of a spot we would all enjoy off the side of the fabulous Beartooth Highway.

DSC01704 by joshipps132, on Flickr

Our stop lead us too a rather cool water fall that cuts right through the granite. It is awesome. The bridge the highway goes on is pretty cool to see as well.

On our way to the water fall
IMG_7901 by digirat99, on Flickr

Crystal clear water..
IMG_7905 by digirat99, on Flickr

The chute!
IMG_5521 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

After this fun but short detour we headed out to get to Cooke City.
20 by sconniehailer, on Flickr

Cooke City is a cool little town although a major tourist spot. Can't blame them. The North East entrance to Yellowstone is just outside of town. Lots of people end up here to either drive the Beartooth Highway or the Chief Joseph Highway. Both are spectacular to drive. Roads made for God himself to shred down. Plus the views are unbelievable.

One bad part about Cooke City is there are a lot of people passing through and only three gas pumps. So we all horde around and pay the premium price to top off our tanks.

21 by sconniehailer, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 4 Continued​

After refueling we head off straight from town and climb up into the peaks. Before long we all decide to air down again. Normally not a big issue. But my Dad had failed to return to me my ARB Deflator. Which sucked. Airing down 35'' tires with a pen takes forever! So long an older couple came up on us on a 4wheeler and realizing they had no room to go around us. The guy opened his cooler and drank a beer while the wife took in the landscape. By the time I was done, he had just finished his beer. Good timing.

IMG_5532 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

We then pulled off and ate some lunch. Not a bad view is it?

IMG_7921 by digirat99, on Flickr

Before long we were back on the road

IMG_5539 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
26 by sconniehailer, on Flickr

Ben was leading and saw a new off shoot we had not done before and lead the way to the top. So worth it. This is the top of of Henderson Mountain. And the view down into the valley where we had just come from was spectacular.

Hiking up
IMG_7926 by digirat99, on Flickr

BOOM!
SOSMeet-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
DSC01763 by joshipps132, on Flickr

We aren't even getting started when it comes to the awesome views. But with lots of ground to cover we jumped back in the trucks and headed over to the next peak which was just south.

IMG_5585 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5591 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Our next summit was Fisher Mountain. Which has a great view of Lulu Pass and Daisy pass and the huge valley to the north. Truly breathtaking. We took a good few minutes up here to really take it all in.

SOSMeet-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_7943 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_7946 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_5603 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5605 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_7953 by digirat99, on Flickr

Ben is loving it
SOSMeet-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_7954 by digirat99, on Flickr

But we still had to get to our campsite of the night which was down Lulu pass a ways. So down we went toward our next trail head. Goose Lake

SOSMeet-41.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Along the way we had to stop and check out some old ruins of the gold and silver mines that used to propagate the area.
33 by sconniehailer, on Flickr
34 by sconniehailer, on Flickr
DSC01797 by joshipps132, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 4 Continued​

And then we began one of my favorite trails. Goose Lake. The views are incredible and the terrain is just right. Few bigger challenges, some slow sections, lots of water crossings, many lakes, and a few go fast sections. All with the best views ever. Can't complain much about this.

IMG_5632 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
SOSMeet-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_7962 by digirat99, on Flickr

Last time I was here there was almost no traffic at all. This time, there was a lot. All of it was ATVs and UTVs. Most where nice, one group was a bit rude in trying to get around us. But the thing that REALLY ticked us off was the very obvious tracks of ATV/UTVs that had gone off trail just to avoid a slightly bigger rock. Crap like that makes the magical areas like these closed off. I wish more ATV people would realize this and just have the sense to turn around when they get to a spot they either can't drive through or aren't comfortable with their abilities. Hell not just ATVers. Any avid offroader for that matter.

As sour of a subject as this is, we still moved on and enjoyed the hell of out the views.

SOSMeet.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_7967 by digirat99, on Flickr

When came to our first slightly big challenge. Only Marc took the easier route not wanting to abuse his clutch too bad. Its not a horrible spot at all, but this year the rocks at the bottom had been tore up enough that it made picking the right line a tad difficult. No one had any real issues and it was a blast to climb up.

IMG_5647 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5653 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5660 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5673 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5681 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

We then continued to soak it all in, right up until we met a small family coming out of the area. The Father went on to tell me there where about 25-30 UTVs parked up at the end of the trail. This wasn't a great thing to hear as camping is VERY limited up there. And only 1 fire ring. We where very much hoping there weren't planning on staying up there.

As we drove away, Mike heard one of the young boys say, “Daddy, they'll never make it...”

Son...meet the Tacoma.

SOSMeet-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_5684 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5685 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5641 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

And now we had our final obstacle to get to the lake. Last year this was no big deal. But man the water run off and traffic had really taken its tole. It still was pretty simple to drive and we all got over with no problems however.

The line up

IMG_5687 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Mike was first and the only one that opted for the very off camber side.

SOSMeet-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Followed by Marc. The lone 2nd gen

IMG_5691 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_7970 by digirat99, on Flickr

Then Timmy
IMG_7975 by digirat99, on Flickr

Then Josh. He has quite the custom body work

SOSMeet-52.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_7982 by digirat99, on Flickr

And this is what happens when you crack a joke that makes you look like an idiot when taken out of context and there are lots of people with cameras

IMG_5694 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Then Ben

IMG_7984 by digirat99, on Flickr

and finally me.

IMG_7990 by digirat99, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 4 Continued​

Didn't take long at all to get through it. Its a rather simple and fun obstacle. We all where glad to get out of the trucks for a minute though.

IMG_7994 by digirat99, on Flickr

Marc even found some snow to throw at people!

39 by sconniehailer, on Flickr
SOSMeet-54.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Out camp site was just around the corner though and we were all ready for some campfire time. And hoping the UTV people weren't camping up here. Lucky for us upon our arival and as we moved into position to camp, the very large group of UTVs took off. They had only done a day drive and had been driving all the roads in the area. Which meant we had the whole place to ourselves.

IMG_5707 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_7997 by digirat99, on Flickr

After a quick tent setup up Marc and I got to making the beloved campfire

41 by sconniehailer, on Flickr
42 by sconniehailer, on Flickr

After which many of us split off and went around hiking. Marc and his wife Jen join Jess and I to go up to the lake.

43 by sconniehailer, on Flickr
SOSMeet-56.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The lake is quite large really and feeds Goose Creek through out most of the year. It was much higher from last year from the insane amount of snowfall from the winter before. You used to be able to drive all the way up into the lake area and camp around it. But too many people had taken liberties and damaged too much of the alpine tundra and they had closed the last ½' or so of trail. The tundra is only found in three places in the world, Alaska, Canada and Montana. It takes up to 1000 years to form just an inch of soil due to the extremely short summer season where the ground actually unfreezes. I am glad they chose only to close the last small bit of trail and not the full trail. Its magical up here.

SOSMeet-58.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Marc and Jen's silence and looks of wonder say it all

SOSMeet-59.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-61.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

As we return to camp the clouds really start to roll in. But we never really thought it would lead to the storm that came next. We all just threw on another layer and stoked the fire. It was a rather enjoyable night especially because Mike and Timmy had found a drink that Jess seemed to enjoy and she had gotten rather giggly. When out of nowhere, bam. Rain.

It rained hard for a good 10 minutes and we had all retreated to hiding under roof top tents or some other form of cover when it seemed to die down. We quickly moved back around our lovely fire and resumed the story telling and arguing. And then the rain came back with vengeance. This time it was much much worse. Which lead to something that doesn't normally happen. We all looked at each other and said good night and all retreated into our tents promptly. Scrambling to put out the fire and trying to get everything covered for the long downpour.

It didn't stop for hours. Thank goodness for rooftop tents. Im not totally sure when it stopped raining but it woke me up several times in the night and was still coming down. But there is something peaceful about falling asleep to the sound of rain.

I woke the next morning to the sound of Marc's voice hollering up at me.

“Hey man! Its been fun! I'll see you another time!”

Jess and I had both slept in hardcore and forgotten that Josh, Marc and Jen all had to leave very early as they had to go home to their jobs the next day.

“Crap!” I replied, “Have a good one man! Travel safe!”

and they left.

Luckily firecracker Ben was up and went with them to the main obstacle to help spot them over.

DSC01956 by joshipps132, on Flickr
IMG_5711 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

From there they said their final good bye's and headed out.

Ben then returned to our camp where we were lazily getting things in order and the water off. He snapped some great morning photos

IMG_5712 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5715 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Even when we where all packed up though we still seemed to drag out leaving. Just didn't want to say good bye to such a wondrous place.

IMG_5719 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_8004 by digirat99, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 4 Contiuned​

Even though we didn't totally want to, we knew there where more things to see in the area and left one of our favorite places. We didn't really end up down grading though as you will see. So we headed off back down the mountain and came up too the main obscatle where I noticed my truck making a very bad clicking sound and dove under Frankenstein to give him his daily attention. Everyone else tackled the obstacle.

Timmy scoped out his line
IMG_8028 by digirat99, on Flickr

32s can make it though
SOSMeet-62.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_8031 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_8035 by digirat99, on Flickr
SOSMeet.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

35s walk it
IMG_5723 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_8051 by digirat99, on Flickr

By now I had figured out what my clicking nosies was. My U bolts had come dangerously loose from when I refreshed my leaf packs with a new AAL last week. Which gave me the grand idea to check Ben's as we had just done his as well. Sure enough, they were also loose. Few minutes with a 19mm socket and torque wrench we were all road worthy again.

Its funny how going one direction vs the other things can look different. But man do things look different going the opposite way with the sun on the other side.

SOSMeet-63.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-64.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_5724 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

This hill was also much different going down it then up. But man it was fun.

IMG_5730 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5738 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5746 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_8076 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_5749 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

YESSSSS
IMG_5752 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Then we had our next “carnage”. Although it wasn't really that bad, but was a bit annoying. Ben's CB radio antenna mount decided to break. The whole thing just snapped off.

This left no grounding plane for the antenna and basically rendered Ben's radio useless. Not ideal for communication really but he could at least still hear us. To which we took full advantage of much teasing was had on how much quieter the radio waves had suddenly gotten. We decided eventually we would run back to the shop in Powell and re weld it together.

Onward we continued down Goose. It being a Sunday morning, there was absolutely no traffic.
IMG_5754 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
SOSMeet-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_8117 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_5758 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5767 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 4 Continued​

At the end of the trail we had many options to choose from. There where another 3 roads we knew of in the area to go explore. So naturally we had to drive them all. We headed up Lulu pass again and took the first side road. Man where we in for a surprise.

Not even close to the top yet.
IMG_8141 by digirat99, on Flickr

I like wheeling says Timmy
SOSMeet-73.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-74.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
SOSMeet-76.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_5786 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Then the road goes up. And I mean UP. Straight up the side of a peak, to the top of Sheep Mountain. This view was incredible. We could see the entire Goose lake trail and Goose Lake, and more. It was incredible.

Climbing up.
IMG_8157 by digirat99, on Flickr

We stopped several times prematurely and one of the times I wandered off to the edge of the mountain which turned into a cliff. I happened to stumble upon two wood crosses up there. I don't know about you but this would be one hell of a burial site.

SOSMeet-78.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_8165 by digirat99, on Flickr

Then the road ends and its a small hike up to the top
IMG_5818 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_8175 by digirat99, on Flickr

My..god..

SOSMeet.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I really hope you clicked full size on that. Or any of these following pictures.
IMG_8181 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_8182 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_8185 by digirat99, on Flickr

We even convinced Mike to fight through the lack of oxygen to climb to the top.

“So worth it, so so worth it” were his only words

IMG_5830 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

We all loved it.
IMG_8186 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_5837 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

And here is where we just left!
IMG_8187 by digirat99, on Flickr

But we still have many more roads to explore and headed back down to Lulu pass

SOSMeet-83.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_5852 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5853 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 4 Continued​

But it was time to spice things up a bit.

“Anyone want to drive Frankenstein?” I called out over the radio.

“YES!” Replied Timmy.

We swapped trucks and prepped for fun.

Is it just me or do I look too big for the C'Bob machine?
IMG_5859 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

And Timmy a bit small in Frank?
SOSMeet-84.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The reactions where hilrious. Its amazing how the same truck can feel so very different and drive worlds apart. Timmy's first reaction was,

“Oh my god! Your gears are so low! The torque!”

Where as mine was,

“Oh my god you have real suspension!”

Timmy didn't quite understand this as Frank appears to eat up things very well. Only when you hit an actual big bump do you realize the shocks have had way to much abuse.

Watching Timmy get the front tires off the ground over a bump in the rear view mirror had me laughing hysterically.

“Well that didn't feel good” Said Timmy.

SOSMeet-85.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Timmy- “I love your exhaust though man, it really just edges me on and makes me want to drive the crap out of it. It's happy place is 3000rpm all day. But I miss my truck. You can have him back.”

Me- “well I want Frank back but can I have your suspension?”

But it was too late. The truck shuffle had begun.

Ben- “I want a go in Frank”

So we swapped. And Mike and Timmy swapped as we started down our second side road of the day.

Ben didn't hold back either.

SOSMeet-86.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Hell I don't think any of us did. It was so fun. Everyone's truck was so different and yet, the same. The road we had gone down though was very short and a dead end.

IMG_8209 by digirat99, on Flickr

We did one last shuffle where I was in Mikes Red head rig and he was in Frank on the way out.

IMG_8212 by digirat99, on Flickr
SOSMeet-89.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The ultimate conclusion was, we all wanted our own trucks back. It was very fun to get to feel different setups on essentially the same truck. Try it sometime with your own friends.

We only had one more road to explore and knew we needed a campsite for the night so we headed off in search of a place to sleep.

Of course the road we took happened to have a large pool of water and well. We just had to pin it through the water. Poor Ben did not escape taking these photos dry. HA!

IMG_5880 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5902 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_5908 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

The road ended up being rather smooth but very whoopy. Mike was leading and I began riding on his ***. Mistake.

Mike started giving it the skinny pedal more and more and of course I had to keep up. We left Ben and Timmy in the dust as they were unaware of the sudden burst of speed.

After about a mile of hard romping Mike slowed and said,

“Man, thats fun but better slow down before I break something”

It was a valid point especially given how this trip was going. So we slowed down, a little. The road ends at Lake Abundance and there were several vehicles parked there. So we turned around to look for another spot.

IMG_5866 by bspringli photography, on Flickr


By mere chance an old campsite complete with fire rig and lots of wood was found just off the side of the road. We had missed it the first time mobbing by it and the growth this year had hidden it very well. This seem like the perfect place. I mean check out the view!

IMG_5913 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

Everyone found a spot and setup. Ben and I played split for split on the logs we had found and brought to get the fire going.

IMG_5917 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
IMG_8220 by digirat99, on Flickr

What a horrible picture haha
IMG_8229 by digirat99, on Flickr

Honestly we were quite happy.

One of the coolest things about this site is obvious the huge peak in the background. That's Miller Mountain and Wolverine Peak. Watching the colors change on it throughout the evening was specaular.

IMG_5930 by bspringli photography, on Flickr
SOSMeet-90.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_5942 by bspringli photography, on Flickr

We settled in for the night which thankfully was storm free and merited a lovely nights sleep. The fire talk that night circled a lot around who's truck was better naturally as we all had gotten wheel time behind each others. But the same conclusion came out of it that we all just loved our own the best.

It was incredible to think of what we had seen and where we had been in just over a week. And we still weren't done. A finalized plan was drawn up around the fire on what to do with our last few days of freedom. Though we were in no hurry at all. I mean would you be if you were in paradise with great friends, good food, good drink and amazing stars?

Comets by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

No. No you aren't.


To be continued...

Chapter 5:
Big Rocks, Big goodbyes​

 

[Blackdawg]

Thanks for the compliments guys! Enjoy the latest addition. Its a long one. Ton of photos. The whole 25 photos per post killed me!

 

[Scarab]

Absolutely fantastic, please keep posting!